Oh shit. Kana got raped. I thought Hosaka was somewhat scary, but Hayami-senpai is even scarier, knocking down both Chiaki and Haruka plus raping Kana. That has gonna be a New Year to remember for Kana….. orz.
Also, Touma looks awesome in the hakama, but as Kana says, she needs some discretion ^^;;….
As for Mako-chan… maa~~~….
Without a doubt the best show of Fall 2007. This is probably going to be my favourite show by SHAFT for a long while, closely followed by Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
ef started rather humbly and pretty unimpressively too, after the initial hype for it that I was exposed to. Hearing SHAFT was doing the animation wasn’t too much of a reassurance as well, since SHAFT’s works are rather hit-or-miss for me, even if they have some impressive animation techniques. In fact, for the first 3-4 episodes, I won’t deny I gave it the moniker ef ~a tale of Photoshop filters~.
The turning point of ef for me was probably the start of Chihiro’s novel writing endeavors, and her fantasy writing was very obviously a metaphor of her own feelings towards her life, ruled by the 13-hour prison. The series managed to present Chihiro’s conditions in an extremely emphatic way that very much showed the sufferings and life of Chihiro and her 13-hour prison, which undeniably got me hooked to the show for real.
ef’s climax for me was Chihiro’s tearing of her diary pages from the time she met Renji until the day she tried to break up with him. That was really a pinnacle of SHAFT’s artistic style for me, and the execution was no less than impressive. The emotional impact was impressive as well, as it was literally a “suicide” of sorts by Chihiro, by destroying the very happiest moments of her life up till then.
While the real star of the show for me was Chihiro, the other arc of Miyako, Kei and Hirono also provided much drama while Chihiro was having some of the happiest times of her life. Miyako’s persistancy was initially a bit scary, I admit, but after the heart-wrenching unveiling of her own past, my feelings soon turned in the sympathy for her. Well, all in all, I’m glad it didn’t escalate to a school-days-esque development. I guess that fear has been instilled in us all for this genre of shows.
Another thing I would like to give credit to is SHAFT’s artistic style, while initially I disliked, but I soon loved it as it has been a real star by it’s own, as it managed to convey itself very well and also added to to overall fantasy-styled setting of ef, giving it a more fantastic feel. Kudos to SHAFT for executing it’s style in such a way. This just really shows me that SHAFT’s potential is still very much unexplored fully.
Overall, best show of Fall 2007, in terms of artistic quality and story telling. It’s a must-watch, I tell you.
So Genshiken II ends off with Sasayan’s job hunt arc. I’m a bit disappointed we won’t be going in to the “training camp” arc, but I guess that and the true ending will be left to another 3rd season I hope. Gotta say the animators are damn awesome for inserting some Ogi-chin fanservice in the final episode.
Overall, Genshiken II has been a nice adaptation of the manga, and I won’t deny I was really surprised when it seemed that everyone except me hated it for being “bland” at the start but the element of “blandness” is what makes Genshiken II lifelike. Well thankfully, the critics were soon silenced :).
I’ve greatly enjoyed watching this show, even with the infamous over-the-top yaoi episode. Genshiken II also marked a passing of sorts to the younger members of the club, mainly marked by having Ogiue as the main female character focused on, instead of Saki in the first season. I also have to give awesome kudos for introducing Angela and Sue, and they really spiced up the show in the episodes they appeared in :).
Here’s to my hopes of another season of Genshiken!
Guess what. I totally forgot to watch this episode until now. orz.
First pics of the magazine is out. Awesome selection this month.
Highlights:
Can’t make out the rest though, the photo was too small this month. Still, I’m gonna get it just for the Konata x Kagamin poster. Scratch that, /hr/ provided as usual.
Additional highlights:
Grand finale battle with Anzelotte & Co. + Bell Zephyr vs Kirihito and his hax God mode, no prizes for guessing who won. I’ve gotta say though, they kinda cheated out a bit by focusing so much on Hiiragi going in to Elis’s dream to save her then Anzelotte reviving Kureha (didn’t expect her to be really dead) to reverse the tide of the battle. Gayzer should’ve thought up a more foolproof plot. Well, at least they found a last minute use for Nightmare… can’t stand his “DORIIMU” chants though.
I’d really wanted more fight scenes with Bell vs Kirihito but then, he was using god mode anyways, the cheater that he is. Really sad that we didn’t see too much of Bell herself, in this episode but she really spiced up this show well, especially with the awesome battle outfit of hers. Kudos too for Yuka Goto pulling off her so well, didn’t expect Gotouza-sama to have such an awesome evil voice as well.
As my closing thoughts, I’d like to say NIGHT WIZARD was a surprisingly good series, and I initially expected the show to bore me off in perhaps the 4th or 5th episode, but thankfully that didn’t happen. While it won’t win any points for plot and character development, the awesome fights and the nicely executed plot twist made up more than enough. I especially loved how over-the-top the fights were progressing throughout the series, from the simple mob fights on episode one (lol skellie army) to the grand battle on Saturn where Bell finally took matters in her own hands and Elis waking up Shaymaru.
Without doubt, NIGHT WIZARD has been an enjoyable show, even if the initial episodes weren’t that impressive. I’d say it’s probably one of the best shows from the Fall season, which is a surprise to myself, considering how low my expectations were for this show at the start of it. I should also give a special mention to the ED theme, Erinyes, as well. It’s probably one of the best ED’s for the Fall season too.
Holy shit. JAM Project singing Motteke! Sailor-fuku.
Yes, that JAM Project.
Yes, I’m not joking.
Yes, it’s true.
Yes, I know it’s so wrong, but it’s so right as well.
Anyways, listen to it yourself. It’s actually pretty good, IMHO. Apart from that track and the CD’s cover, the whole album sucks as usual. I take that back, Track 6 is actually pretty awesome.
[audio:http://starspire.net/kurogane/JAM_Project_-_JAM_does_Motteke!_Sailor-fuku.mp3]
I’ll be honest here and say that D.C.II ended for me at episode 7 (Nanaka! TT_TT), but I did still watch the rest of the episodes, which to many people’s surprise, took Minatsu’s route as the main plot.
Considering that Da Capo was the ultimate imouto-kon anime, this of course comes as a surprise and probably dashed the expectations of many. But still D.C.II wasn’t too bad at all, and considering the short episode count, it did manage to tell Minatsu’s story out, even if they took quite a number of episodes to actually get in to it. And her story isn’t that bad per se, just a bit rather typical in terms of the issues it was dealing with.
That said, unless you’re a Minatsu or Koko fan (I doubt there are many), D.C. II anime is largely forgettable after watching it, except for episode seven. I’m still happy of course it managed to portray Nanaka well, even if she was merely a side character throughout the series. And of course, thanks to it, there’ll be at least one or two insert single songs courtesy of Minorin to come out.
Addendum: Oh it looks like D.C. II S.S has been announced. Well, not too surprising, but I wonder which route will they focus on. Will they finally go back to its roots and focus on Yume or Otome? Will they throw another curveball instead and do Anzu’s storyline? Will they totally do a slap-in-your-face and go Suginami’s route? I wonder….
OMGWTFHOLYSHIT!!! Ohno cosplayed as Y*ko!!!! OMGWTFHOLYSHIT!!!
Also, Sue remains superior.
Well said, Sue, well said.
メリークリスマスみんなさん！ Merry Christmas everyone!!! Yeah It’s a bit early for those not on GMT +8, but what the heck :D.
Hope it’s been a good year for all my readers, and I hope y’all won’t be getting coal from Santa ;).
Look forward to my Year-in-Review post sometime soon, perhaps before the New Year :).
Till then, enjoy!
P.S. Does anyone still have a copy of my Christmas present last year? Sadly I lost my copy in a HDD crash, and I can’t find it back.
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